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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

French Twist Cran-Raspberry Sauce

I live in New England where cranberries are plentiful and ruby red. This is a French twist on classic Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. It's sweet and tart, thick and glossy with soft banknotes of raspberry.

To Frenchify this recipe, I added a small nip of Chambord Raspberry Liqueur. It's made in the Loire Valley from raspberries and vanilla. Chambord pairs nicely with the cranberries. You could certainly add more of this wonderful liqueur to the sauce. I also stir some cinnamon in at the end of cooking for another layer of flavor. It's a festive and flavorful holiday sauce.

This jewel-tone sauce is lovely paired with everything from turkey to brie cheese. It's great on cheesecake and served warm over vanilla ice cream too! It's an easy sauce to keep in your repertoire. I freezes well too.

French Twist Cran-Raspberry Sauce Recipe

Makes A Double Batch

Some Notes

This recipe is for a double batch, enough for lots of leftovers and sandwiches. This is a pleasantly sweet sauce, if you want it tarter, you can reduce the sugar just a little. I find that the cranberries need sugar to balance their acidity. The raspberry flavor is subtle. The sauce a keeps for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be frozen a week in advance too. Thaw it in the fridge. In a pinch, you can even thaw it in the microwave, a real time saver!

A cornstarch and cold water solution thickens the sauce and makes it glossy. For me, this is a necessary step as I don't like watery cranberry sauce. The more of this mixture you use, the thicker the sauce will be. It also gets thicker as it cools. Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon is bold, sweet and spicy. I adore it in everything from oatmeal to baked goods. Use whatever cinnamon you like. Vietnamese cinnamon is strong and rich, so I use less of it.

Ingredients

3 teaspoons of raspberry extract, I use the real stuff made by Olive Nation.

1 nip of Chambord Raspberry Liqueur (50 ml) , about 4-5 tablespoons. You can add more if you're feeling in the mood.

A few pinches of salt

2 cups of water

1/2-1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I use Vietnamese cinnamon.

A couple of squeezes of fresh lime juice from one lime (optional)

1 tablespoon in cornstarch mixed with two tablespoons of water

Instructions

Place the cranberries, sugar, water and salt in a pot and bring to a gentle boil over medium to medium high heat. Cover and cook until the cranberries have popped and formed a sauce. Keep an eye on it. Stir and adjust the heat as needed. It helps to smush some of the whole berries with the back of a spoon.

Turn off the heat and add the Chambord and raspberry extract, away from the heat source. Be careful when adding alcohol to any hot sauce. Return the pot to the stove and bring to a boil to burn off the alcohol.

Keep it on a gentle boil and stir in the cornstarch/water mixture and a 1/2 of a teaspoon of cinnamon. Add a squeeze or two of fresh lime juice. Taste and stir in more cinnamon and fresh lime if you desire. Let it cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.